Nicole McLaughlin was born and raised in Massachusetts but spent much of her early childhood in Mexico.As a first generation Mexican-American, she is heavily influenced by her multicultural upbringing and her childhood memories of visiting her mother’s home town of Cuernavaca, Mexico.McLaughlin received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Kansas City Art Institute in Kansas City, MO. She draws upon the rich traditions of historically domestic crafts to reconsider their roles today, merging ceramics and textiles into elegant, cascading wall sculptures.Her studio practice, a ritualization that celebrates and questions her cultural inheritance as a woman, depicts the dichotomies of her heritage through the combination of ceramics and fiber.Streams of wool fiber flow from central openings in glazed ceramic spheres, referencing the life-giving flow of water as a parallel to fertility and maternal care.The use of fiber in combination with ceramic speaks powerfully to how we view utilitarian objects and the experiences associated with them.

More of Nicole McLaughlin’s ceramic and fiber works can be found at https://www.nicoleamclaughlin.com/.